...and depending on the age of the car, the thermostat could be one of two styles - the older style utilises longer bolts and IIRC a round profile O ring, the newer style utilises shorter bolts (or packing out with washers) and squarer profile O ring with a couple of notches to hold it in situ while you fit it.

Transfer pipe as per post above - there's a chance you'll be able to remove it without any damage, but even if you do, you'll still need two new O rings to be able to re-use it.

Today was alignment day and everything on the face of it seemed ok, the only adjustment was toe needed set. Camber was within limits. The techy had to heat the adjusters though. He left it to cool off before actually setting the toe. You could actually see the setting change as it was heated and then left to cool off. He did say is this got sport suspension as it looked low at the front. And was it the one with adjustable rear shocks, said not afaik, think it is elite one that has those.

Glad that's that out of the way. I'll keep an eye on the tyre wear as I have been doing anyway. It's looked ok since I got the tyres a couple of months ago at the same time bushes were replaced on arms.

Today I started stripping the gubbins off to get at the Timing belt. Everything went pretty much ok apart from a slightly seized on power steering pump pulley, a bit of fannying about to get the top cover off, in the midst's of which I decided to break a little sensor at the top right hand corner whilst removing it.

Now that I can see in the belt area it looks like it's due a change as there is a lot of rubber "powder" sitting atop the timing belt bolt mount in between the 2 cam sprockets. Nice little confirmation tell tale for a belt change if you ask me, except of course for the more dramatic option of a snapped belt!

As you can see McDonalds napkins do have other uses besides mopping up ketchup off your crotch!

The broken sensor at the top and back of the plenum chamber thingy

The other bit of the broken sensor floating about at the back RH side of bay

Air pipes off

Timing cover off

Straying slightly from subject, this was the rusty fuel pick up, although no signs of leaks. I did stick my hooter down there and there is a slight smell of petrol, got my lighter out to look for more leaks but no dice!

Today was alignment day and everything on the face of it seemed ok, the only adjustment was toe needed set. Camber was within limits. The techy had to heat the adjusters though. He left it to cool off before actually setting the toe. You could actually see the setting change as it was heated and then left to cool off. He did say is this got sport suspension as it looked low at the front. And was it the one with adjustable rear shocks, said not afaik, think it is elite one that has those.

Glad that's that out of the way. I'll keep an eye on the tyre wear as I have been doing anyway. It's looked ok since I got the tyres a couple of months ago at the same time bushes were replaced on arms.

Did you get a print out? The 'limits' generally used by the trade allow too much camber & hence result in excessive wear on the inside edge of the front tyres.

Now that I can see in the belt area it looks like it's due a change as there is a lot of rubber "powder" sitting atop the timing belt bolt mount in between the 2 cam sprockets. Nice little confirmation tell tale for a belt change if you ask me, except of course for the more dramatic option of a snapped belt!

The broken sensor at the top and back of the plenum chamber thingy

The other bit of the broken sensor floating about at the back RH side of bay

I don't think the belt ever fails - it is always a tensioner that lets go and lets the belt fall off the sprockets

You need a replacement vacuum solenoid. The one you have broken controls a flap at the rear of the intake manifold that will have a noticeable effect on the engines tractability.

Today was alignment day and everything on the face of it seemed ok, the only adjustment was toe needed set. Camber was within limits. The techy had to heat the adjusters though. He left it to cool off before actually setting the toe. You could actually see the setting change as it was heated and then left to cool off. He did say is this got sport suspension as it looked low at the front. And was it the one with adjustable rear shocks, said not afaik, think it is elite one that has those.

Glad that's that out of the way. I'll keep an eye on the tyre wear as I have been doing anyway. It's looked ok since I got the tyres a couple of months ago at the same time bushes were replaced on arms.

Did you get a print out? The 'limits' generally used by the trade allow too much camber & hence result in excessive wear on the inside edge of the front tyres.

No, I forgot to ask damn! Actually thinking on it I think he might have used an omega 4 pot setting. I remember watching him scroll through the options and seen this as the last thing on the screen, he kept asking what model it was. Tbh I wasn't convinced it was done correctly as it seemed like he was too quick to say everything else is in tolerance it's just the toe that's out. He said he'd done one of these a few weeks ago then said no wait it was a carlton. The only way I would be sure is to do it myself!

Now that I can see in the belt area it looks like it's due a change as there is a lot of rubber "powder" sitting atop the timing belt bolt mount in between the 2 cam sprockets. Nice little confirmation tell tale for a belt change if you ask me, except of course for the more dramatic option of a snapped belt!

The broken sensor at the top and back of the plenum chamber thingy

The other bit of the broken sensor floating about at the back RH side of bay

I don't think the belt ever fails - it is always a tensioner that lets go and lets the belt fall off the sprockets

You need a replacement vacuum solenoid. The one you have broken controls a flap at the rear of the intake manifold that will have a noticeable effect on the engines tractability.

I had another look at it, there is bits of belt rubber all over the top of the water pump recesses and all over the back of the cover, not just dust, but bits of rubber too. The teeth look quite thin on the skin.

Bit of an update on progress. I've now finally got a working crank lock and have got to the stage the belt is removed, water pump is removed and have started stripping out the rest of the gubbins up top to get into the cam cover gasket. When I was removing the OS coil I noticed when it started to release itself there was a slurping noise, similar to pulling a welly out of mud, I thought "uh oh" or a more choice word, which I will refrain from repeating!; and sure enough the back plug hole was full of oil.

I'vve not noticed any running problems. I just hope that the oil hasn't seeped into the coil. I will proceed with removing the NS one and see how that goes.